Remember when our children were young and ready to start school? What care we took when we packed their lunches. When they grow older, and enter teenage years, we often stop. Now, new research into schizophrenia, the disabling mental disorder that strikes the young in their teenage and college years, may make you start packing those lunches again. Or at least to arm your young adult child with important dietary information.

Schizophrenia is a mental illness that affects 2.4 million Americans. According to the American Psychiatric Association, people with schizophrenia can have symptoms including severe paranoia, hearing voices, believing that people or objects such as radios are putting thoughts in their heads, or believing that they have magical powers.

Schizophrenia often strikes young people during the early years of their lives, from teenage years to age 25. Many historical figures have had schizophrenia, including Nobel-prize winning mathematician John Nash, the subject of the Russell Crowe movie “A Beautiful Mind”, and reportedly Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of President Abraham Lincoln.

Scientists have long believed that schizophrenia is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain but have struggled to precisely identify what chemicals are out of balance. However, 15 studies have observed that the autopsied brains of schizophrenics have low levels of lipids (oil), particularly eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), an essential fatty acid found in fish oil and krill oil.

Schizophrenia typically appears after a early, pre-onset period which can last 30 months. During the pre-onset period, you may notice symptoms including sleeping too much or not being able to sleep much at all, social withdrawal, irritability and mood swings. From 20 to 40% of people who experience pre-onset symptoms go on to develop full-blown schizophrenia.

Can schizophrenia be treated with foods during the early pre-onset phase? Are there diets that can help prevent these early symptoms from developing full-blown schizophrenia?

New research suggests that there is in fact an ideal diet to prevent the development of full-blown schizophrenia.

Omega-3's Interrupt the Progression of Schizophrenia

An important new study from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria has found that omega-3 fatty acids can be a powerful ally in stopping early pre-onset symptoms from developing into full-blown schizophrenia.

The new study examined 81 young people, aged 13 to 25, who had exhibited early signs of schizophrenia. To be included in the study, the young people had to have shown early signs of schizophrenia during the year leading up to the study. Many of them had sought out psychiatric help after having temporary bouts of suspiciousness, disorganized thinking or hallucinations but these symptoms had lasted a week or less and had disappeared without need for medication.

The researchers divided the 81 patients into 2 groups. 41 of the patients in the study were given 1200 mg yellow gelatin fish oil pills for 4 months. The active ingredients in the fish oil pills were 700 milligrams of EPA, 500 milligrams of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and 10 milligrams of Vitamin E.

The remaining 40 of the group received a dummy “placebo” which looked identical to the yellow gelatin pill given to the first group, but made up of coconut oil, 10 milligrams of fish oil without the EPA and DHA simply to mimic the taste and 10 milligrams of Vitamin E.

After a year, 2 out of the 41 people (5%) who had taken the fish oil pills with omega-3 fatty acids had developed schizophrenia psychosis. In the placebo group, 11 out of the 40 (28%) had developed full-blown schizophrenic psychosis.

In other words, the group that did not take omega-3 fish oil supplements suffered almost six times higher rates of schizophrenia than those who did.

Other studies have noted the promising effectiveness of omega-3 fatty acids in the treatment of psychiatric disorders including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

A 2008 study from the University of Bologna in Italy looked at all existing studies on the use of anti-oxidants such as omega-3 fatty acids in the prevention and treatment of psychiatric disorders. This mega-study noted that “oxidative stress” had been found to be present in a range of psychiatric disorders including autism, Rett’s disorder, attention-deficit disorder, sexual dysfunction, sleeping disorders, dementia, hallucinogen-related disorders and psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.

The Bologna study concluded that “Most psychiatric disorders are associated with increased oxidative stress. Patients suffering from that subgroup of these psychiatric disorders in which there is increased lipid peroxidation might therefore benefit from fatty acid supplementation (preferably with the inclusion of an antioxidant-rich diet) while patients suffering from all these psychiatric disorders might benefit from a change to a whole-food plant-based diet devoid of refined carbohydrate products.”

The Bologna study is not the only one to single out the role of oxidative stress in mental illness. Oxidative stress occurs when your cells are unable to properly process the oxygen they need. You have seen oxidation at work. It is the process that makes metals rusty. Oxidation is also the process that turns the white of an apple brown.

Your brain is "abnormally prone to oxidative stress", a 2014 study from Cruziero do Sul University of Brazil noted. Oxidation, left unchecked, can literally can age your brain. As a consequence, even those of us who have no family history of mental illness must be especially careful to ensure that we eat foods that help the brain to ward off oxidative stress. These foods are good at scavenging free radicals that trigger oxidative stress.

Ideal Diet for Schizophrenia

Drawing from these studies and others that have reached the same conclusions, here is an ideal diet to prevent the onset of schizophrenia:

1. Salmon. Salmon has one of the highest naturally occurring concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids. Salmon is an almost ideal fish. A 3-ounce serving of wild salmon has approximately 365 milligrams of EPA and 558 milligrams of DHA, or a total of 923 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids. Other fish rich in omega-3’s are sardines and, to a lesser extent, tuna.

2. Omega-3 Enriched Eggs. Several omega- enriched foods are available in most markets of the developed world, including eggs and butter-substitutes. There are three kinds of omega-3 fatty acids, ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), DFA and EFA. Our bodies convert ALA into the other two somewhat inefficiently. So, read the labels of any products to make sure that they contain EFA and DHA.

3. Omega-3 Fish-Oil Supplements. Look carefully at the label to ensure that your are getting at least 1200 milligrams per day, the amount used in the Austrian study. Consider using krill oil in lieu of fish oil. Krill oil is better absorbed by your body than fish oil. (Read more about how krill oil compares to fish oil's health benefits.)

4. Pumpkin Seeds and Walnuts. Pumpkin seeds are high in omega 3 fatty acids. Walnuts have a much lower amount but are still higher than most other nuts.

4. Flaxseed Oil. Flaxseed oil contains more omega-3s than any other oil.

5. Olive Oil. The American diet has an excess of omega-6 fatty acids and a deficieny of omega-3 fatty acids. The omega-6 fatty acids drive down the levels of omega-3 fatty acids in your blood stream. As a important tool for elevating omega-3’s in your diet, you should avoid using oils rich in omega-6 fatty acids such as canola, sunflower, safflower, corn oil, margarine, lard or vegetable oil. Instead, use olive oil, preferably extra-virgin olive oil. Olive oil is low in no omega-6 fatty acids.

Omega-6 fatty acids are not “bad”. The linoleic version of omega-6 (as opposed to the arachidonic acid version of omega-6) is quite helpful in lowering heart disease risk and improving general cardio vascular health. But, if your aim is to reduce your risk for schizophrenia, they have no demonstrated value and could worsen your schizophrenic risk.

6. Eat Green, Green, Green. As the Bologna study noted, eating a anti-oxidant diet rich in green vegetables and low in white flour, sugar and other refined carbohydrates helps to lower the oxidative stress in your body, which in turn lowers your risk for schizophrenia and a range of other mental disorders.

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